Education Minister Blais weighs possibility of trusteeship for CSDM

Blais's comments about the Commission scolaire de Montréal came on the heels of a letter sent by the board to parents about the "agonizing choices" it faces because of underfunding and government budget cuts.

Brenda Branswell, Montreal Gazette

Updated: April 29, 2015

Quebec Ediucation Minister Francois Blais responds to reporters' questions as he heads to question period Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at the legislature in Quebec City. Jacques Boissinot / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Quebec Education Minister François Blais raised the spectre of trusteeship Wednesday for the province’s largest school board.

Blais’s comments about the Commission scolaire de Montréal came on the heels of a letter sent by the board to parents about the “agonizing choices” it faces because of underfunding and government budget cuts.

The letter from CSDM chairperson Catherine Harel Bourdon and commissioners on Tuesday spelled out some of the cuts the board said it will probably be forced to make as a result. They include reducing busing, eliminating several special-education technician jobs, for example, and abolishing a budget used by district committees to fund many activities in schools such as sports.

“I can tell you what I read is the equivalent to a disaster scenario,” Blais told reporters in Quebec City on Wednesday morning. “If I were a parent, I couldn’t imagine cuts of this type.”

The proposals run contrary to those considered in an independent report about the board’s financial situation, Blais said.

The government commissioned the independent financial audit last fall after the CSDM’s council of commissioners refused to make the entire $9.3 million in additional required budget cuts. The report, delivered to the government last week, proposed ways for the CSDM to achieve a nearly balanced budget by 2016-17 while maintaining the ability to offer quality services. The CSDM has had deficit budgets since 2008-09, according to the report.

Blais said he has asked bureaucrats to look at their options.

“There are different possibilities, notably trusteeship,” he said. “So I asked to look at if we should go in that direction.”

“The letter that was sent to parents is so strong, it is so far from what the report recommends, I think that we have to understand that the CSDM has chosen a different path.”

The report’s conclusions are “very clear, very strong. Of course, it’s possible for an organization that manages about $1 billion today to make the cuts that were asked of them,” Blais said.

Blais had an initial meeting with Harel Bourdon a few weeks before the report was tabled and said he spoke to her about the challenge of putting a school board — which is in a management state “that is far from optimal” — back on its feet.

“It’s not a school board without means. When we look and compare with other school boards of whom we’re also asking efforts and who are delivering, we say there’s a problem. And that’s why the report’s conclusion was very clear. There is a way to do better without affecting, in an extreme way, services to students,” he said.

The report from Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton also observed that “for an organization of this size, which manages big amounts of public funds, it’s unusual to note so few planning tools, follow-up and administrative and financial control.”

Harel Bourdon was not made available to the Montreal Gazette on Wednesday for an interview. However, in a news release Wednesday afternoon she said the board planned to take into account the audit report’s recommendations.

“In the circumstances, we have no other choice but to respond to the Minister’s request, knowing that it won’t be possible for us to spare some services to students,” she said.

Julie White, the press attaché for Blais, said early Wednesday evening they were satisfied the CSDM responded to the minister’s request. They’ll continue to follow the situation closely to ensure that the board is serious about the commitment and that it gets carried out, she said.

This week’s developments are the latest sign of friction between the government and the CSDM. The board was furious last fall when Quebec announced plans to reorganize school boards in the province. Under one proposed scenario, the CSDM would lose more than 40,000 students and 66 schools to the Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys. The scenarios haven’t been decided upon, according to the government.

School boards are still waiting for the budgetary rules for next year to have a fuller picture of the cuts announced in the provincial budget last month. The government maintains the cuts will be similar to last year’s required belt-tightening — $150 million. The Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec points out that $1 billion has been cut from the education system since 2010.

Parent committees from Montreal-area school boards have started banding together to form a coalition to voice their displeasure over budget cuts. They’ve asked the government to stop the cuts, take the time to see the impact of the decisions on children, “and after that talk to us about cuts and … where you’re thinking of cutting,” said Eve Kirlin, a spokesperson for the CSDM’s parents committee.

Geoffrey Vendeville of the Montreal Gazette contributed to this report

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